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Marvel: King of The Swarm Chapter 74: Pandora's Box
🕑 Added 2025-07-20 19:31:52 +0000 UTCClosing the door to her changing room, MJ could barely feel her legs, not from shock or exhaustion, but exhilaration. Even though the entire catastrophe had been orchestrated, the fear from the crowd had been real, and so was their adoration, 'They loved me, they really loved me.'
It was everything MJ had been searching for her entire life: to be noticed for her strengths and talents. Sitting down in front of her changing mirror, MJ stared at her reflection, and Crimson's visage stared back at her. In the mirror, the Scarlet Knight seemed larger than life, a mantle that would grow to represent more than MJ could ever hope to be.
Reaching out, MJ gingerly touched the mirror, watching as Crimson copied her movements, 'No one will ever forget us again.'
---
Harry sighed as he reached up and loosened his tie, managing to slip away from the commotion of everything for the first time that day. However, it was hard to complain when everything was going so well. The convention had drawn in far more people than they initially estimated, and literal millions were pouring in by the hour for the various projects that they had advertised during the event.
But all of that was negligible compared to the storm that was being whipped up online as Ascend's various social media accounts across every platform imaginable began to post curated highlight reels of Crimson's heroic feat. Hundreds of millions of views as people shared and reposted the video, commenting and voicing their support, doubt, or skepticism.
The only thing that mattered, though, was that by tomorrow morning, every news station would have a section talking about Ascend Agencies and Crimson.
'People are already losing their minds, just wait until they see what we've done with Doreen.' Shaking his head, a smile spread across Harry's face as he reached his changing room, only to pause as he placed his hand on the doorknob.
After a split second, he stepped inside quickly, shutting the door behind him. "You really shouldn't be in here."
Gwen dropped silently onto the floor, landing in a crouch before rising to her full height with a glare in her eyes, "And you really shouldn't make a habit of experimenting on your friends, but I guess you're 0 for 2, aren't you?"
"Experimenting?" Harry asked as he leaned against the door and crossed his arms, "You're making it seem like I strapped you down to a table and gutted you like a pig. I offered you my help, and you accepted it."
"Oh really, and what about MJ?" Gwen hissed, "Did you offer to help her as well? And don't even try to deny it, I know she's Crimson."
"I didn't offer her anything, she called me asking for an opportunity and I gave it to her," Harry replied calmly, though a defensive edge was creeping into his voice.
"Why?! Why would you ever let her do this?" Gwen asked with an almost wild look in her eyes, "Out of all the people in this city alone, why did you choose her? Surely, you had better candidates than an eighteen-year-old high school senior!"
"That's a matter of perspective," Harry muttered.
Gwen stared at Harry as if he had grown two heads, "How?!"
"Because MJ was a diamond in the rough, she had the drive, ambition, and determination to become a Hero. All she needed were the tools and resources to realize her potential, so I gave them to her," Harry explained clinically as he pushed off the door and stood upright, "And I made sure she was fully aware of the risks going into this, how her life would never be the same. There would always be some looming risk around the corner."
"Well then, if you told her, why would she go through with it?!" Gwen practically screamed, craning her head back to shout at Harry.
For a moment, Harry paused as he stared into Gwen's eyes, "Why did you?"
Gwen blinked as the question hit her like a punch to the gut, "W-what are you talking about?"
"When did you get your powers, Gwen? How old were you when your life changed forever?" Harry asked, his voice frustratingly soft and gentle.
"That was different," Gwen snapped, trying to reignite the righteous rage that she had felt so good a moment earlier, "I didn't ask for my powers, I didn't have a choice!"
"Yes, you did," Harry countered as he took a step forward, "Getting powers doesn't mean you become a hero, you could have become a villain, or just gone about your life, never putting on the mask. But you didn't, something inside you couldn't let you sit idle, knowing you had the potential to make a real difference. And maybe you didn't realize just what it would cost you in the beginning, but you're still here and fighting."
Gwen slowly shook her head as she took a step back, "You don't know what you're talking about, Harry, you think you know everything, but you really don't."
Harry froze, staring at Gwen with hurt blossoming in his eyes, "You were there when I told you about what my father did to me...and you still think I don't understand?"
Gwen tried to reply, but no words would come out as Harry let out a soft scoff, "Actually, maybe you're right, I don't know what I'm talking about. Because when I got my powers, I didn't have a choice. My body was defiled by my own father, and yet every day I have to pretend like none of it happened. I have to look him in the eyes and hide the fact that I want to strangle him to death with my bare hands. All while he does this to me."
Harry reached up and pulled on his collar, exposing his neck and shoulder where a nasty purple bruise had formed, making Gwen's eyes widen in shock, "I left it there as a reminder, just like all the scars he gave me, because he represents everything wrong with the world. A world that I want to save, even if I don't have the convenience of a mask."
Fixing his clothes, Harry let out a long sigh as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of pills, "Here, I designed these hormone blockers to block the suit from triggering your ovulation. Take one a month, and you should be fine until the suit is finished integrating with your biology."
Stunned, Gwen reached out and took the bottle of pills, unable to look Harry in the eyes, "H-Harry I-I.."
"Don't, Gwen," Harry interrupted, "There's nothing you can say that will make either of us feel better. Just walk away."
Gwen's hand tightened around the pill bottle as her emotions boiled up inside of her, desperate for a conduit. In a blur, Gwen jumped back onto the ceiling, hastily crawling into a vent that she closed behind herself.
Watching her go, Harry let out a long sigh as the emotions drained from his eyes, replaced by a clinical gaze, 'A few more talks like this and she'll be right where I want her.'
Harry did honestly want the best for Gwen; he wanted what was best for the entire world. By the time he was done sowing his seed, humanity would reach its peak, growing beyond what they ever thought possible, 'Only then, will they be a worthy harvest.'
---
"This mother fucker," Nick Fury cursed under his breath as he stood on the bridge of the helicarrier and watched the countless videos played across the wall of monitors. And every last one of them was about the same thing. Every single video was of Crimson, Ascend Agencies' first so-called Ascedant, and the beginning of a series of migraines for Fury, "I should have let those bastards kill his ass just to save me some damn piece of mind."
Fury was, of course, talking about Harry Osborn, who seemed intent on stirring up trouble, which meant that Fury had several long days ahead of him for the foreseeable future, "It's going to be the SS serum all over again, but this time instead of Nazi's and Hydra, we have a damn teenager opening Pandora's box."
"Sir, you have an incoming call from several representatives of the United Nations."
"Well, they can wait a damn minute," Fury shouted at the communications operative, who flinched back, "We've got a crisis on our hands, Pandora's box has just been opened, people, and unfortunately, we're in the business of making sure that the end of days doesn't happen. So, everybody buckle up because shit just hit the fan."
Fury's voice whipped the room up into a frenzy as he started belting out orders, "I need profiles on every single person who's even looked at Harry Osborn, and I want the identity of this Crimson woman by tomorrow. And someone get me Agent Hill on the phone, the two of us need to have a little chat."
